ECW
continues to bring in WWE stars to further decimate the ECW name. But enough of my ranting already. Tonight, King Booker and Queen Sharmell are the invited guests of Paul Heyman. Book is great on the mic and as good out of the ring as in. This oughta be a doozy.

A limo rolls up and Booker and Sharmell get out to be greeted by Heyman and his personal enforcers. Heyman says he's going to show the king what ECW is all about.

This match is Striker's ECW TV debut if anyone cares. I don't. Early on, Sandman gets knocked off the apron into the barrier and he's helped to the back by the backstage crew. The heels work over Dreamer's back extensively before Dreamer gets the hot tag to Sabu. Dreamer plants Knox with a DDT and Sabu heads to the top rope. Test pushes the ref into the ropes and Sabu gets crotched. The move also costs Test the match as the ref calls for the cheap disqualification.

Winners via DQ: Sabu, The Sandman and Tommy Dreamer

Sabu and Dreamer get triple-teamed until Sandman returns to cane Knox and Test, but Striker turns tail and
bolts to the back with a huge grin.

Heyman and the royalty are making their way through the back and come across Christopher W. Anderson and Stevie Richards. Booker then asks, "Who is that?" as he takes a gander at Balls Mahoney. Booker questions his name and asks Heyman what kind of an outfit ECW is. Heyman says it's all uphill from here.

Match # 2 -- Balls Mahoney vs. Kevin Thorn

Balls comes out with Francine to counter Ariel. Mahoney hits his Arn Anderson (I love referring to it that way) spinebuster early, but Thorn gets out at two. Ariel trips
Balls and Francine starts a catfight on the floor with Ariel. Balls climbs the ropes to take a peek, but gets taken down with the Crucifix (Razor's Edge) for the three count.

Winner via pinfall: Kevin Thorn

Heyman and the Bookers bump into Little Guido and Tony Mamaluke and then find the man I call the future of WWECW, C.M. Punk. Booker asks Punk if he is, well, a punk. Punk replies that he's straight-edge and he competes. He then looks at Booker's World Heavyweight title and suggests one day he'll compete for that gold. The look on Booker's face is priceless.

Match # 3 -- C.M. Punk vs. "The Reject" Shannon Moore

This bout goes a smidge longer than last week's initial encounter. Tazz says Moore has an "erect head" and on that note, Kelly Kelly comes out to watch Punk wrestle. Punk traps Moore in a surfboard maneuver early on, but Moore breaks the hold. Knox then whisks Kelly to the back in an all-too familiar scenario. Big surprise eh? Moore actually counters Punk's bulldog, but Punk gets the duke with his slaps/kicks combo into a Yuranagi and Anaconda Vice submission after Moore misses a corkscrew
moonsault.

Winner via submission: C.M. Punk

In the back, Heyman and Booker come across Rob Van Dam. Sharmell calls RVD a "rogue" and Booker asks Van Dam if he'd like to joust later tonight. RVD accepts and I smell a main event 10 minutes from now. Just for good measure, RVD says the match will be Extreme Rules.

Rene Dupree says that because he beat Mahoney last week, he proved he's the most extreme wrestler in ECW. And I suppose The Great Khali is next in line for a Cruiserweight title shot.

The fight scenes from The Marine are shown and hyped by John Cena and the rest of the cast. In all honesty, I don't think this will be a bad movie. It won't be a top box office draw, but it'll sell tickets.

Match # 4 -- Extreme Rules -- Rob Van Dam vs. King Booker

Needless to say, this is obviously a non-title match.

The match spills to the floor early and Booker controls the momentum. Back inside, the match has
a see-saw effect before Booker hits the Bookend and then does the spin-a-rooni. That gave me a chuckle, but only because I don't have Booker's skills.

Booker comes off the ropes for the scissors kick, but is met with a chair to the melon from RVD, who then lays the chair on Booker for Rolling Thunder. Van Dam nails a nice split-legged moonsault for a two count. The king counters a dropkick into a slingshot into the chair that was between the top and middle ropes. Booker hits a non-Arn Anderson-esque spinebuster on the chair, but RVD recovers to land the Five Star Frog Splash.

Only problem is Hardcore Holly comes in with a chair shot to RVD's
back and then a sweet-looking Alabama Slam. As Van Dam gets to his feet, Booker capitalizes with the scissors kick that puts RVD into the chair and that's all she wrote.

Matt Mackinder does not have a man-crush on Arn Anderson even though he mentions him every other week, but urges you all to view the spinebuster that "Double A" executed on Shawn Michaels at the 1989 Survivor Series. "One of the best ever," Matt says. Email Matt at mackindermedia@yahoo.com.